University of Georgia Athletics
Dog Notes: Post Pack Shows Promise
November 06, 2015 | Men's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
There was much to be seen and decided in the post for the Georgia men's basketball team prior to Friday night's exhibition game against Armstrong State. Forty minutes of action at Stegeman Coliseum later, resulting in a 59-41 Bulldogs win, there remains much to be seen and decided.
But this outing was less about figuring out a rotation, at any position. The Bulldogs played 13 guys, including 10 at least 16 minutes, and the exhibition, Georgia coach Mark Fox said, was about gaining "experience to make each player better."
It was a freshman post player, the 6-foot-9 Mike Edwards, who led all scorers with 11. On a rough shooting night for most of the Dogs, who as a team were 16-for-50 from the field and 3-for-17 from 3-point range, Edwards hit 4 of 8 shots. He also had two rebounds, two steals and two turnovers.
"It's a lot more people and a whole new atmosphere," Edwards said of playing in front of Friday's crowd of 5,854. "I really enjoyed it. From high school, it's nothing compared to the college level."
The Dogs are replacing a pair of valuable starters from last season in Marcus Thornton and Nemanja Djurisic, senior leaders who also averaged a combined 23.3 points and 12.5 rebounds a game. Georgia's most veteran post player is Yante Maten, a 6-8 and 240-pound junior.
Against the Pirates, Georgia started three forwards: Maten, Houston Kessler and Kenny Paul Geno. Maten finished with seven points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot. He said he didn't feel much different out there because of his new, larger role, but physically was another story.
After an offseason of hard conditioning work, Maten felt good running up and down the floor.
"I don't think I'm as tired as I was last year," he said.
Kessler, the 6-8 redshirt junior, missed all five of his field-goal attempts, but he made a big impact on the glass, finishing with eight rebounds.
"He rebounded the ball very well, he was very stable and he's practiced extremely well," Fox said. "Houston was terrific on the glass for us tonight, especially in the first half."
Georgia's leading rebounder wound up being 6-8 freshman Derek Ogbeide, the Dogs' quick-footed wide-body. Despite persistent foul trouble, Ogbeide had a game-high 10 rebounds, to go along with an assist, a block and a steal.
With the teams combining to shoot 30 of 120 from the field -- Georgia did make 39.1 percent of its second-half shots -- there were a lot of rebounds to be grabbed. The Dogs got 59 of them, with seven players collecting at least four.
"We played a smaller team so we should have won the battle of the glass," Fox said. "We have an athletic team and a lot of guys can rebound. If they all do it, then we can be a good rebounding team."
First Impressions
Several of the biggest playmakers on the court Friday were freshmen. Edwards had his strong game, as did Ogbeide when he wasn't on the bench and 6-6 forward E'Torrian Wilridge, who had five points and four rebounds, including a monster windmill dunk, capping a baseline drive, in the second half.
William "Turtle" Jackson II had perhaps the best debut. The Athens native got his hometown crowd a big splash right away. Less than a minute after checking into the game at the 15:56 mark of the opening half, Jackson got a steal and broke free for a dunk, putting Georgia up 7-2.
"I think that's the most nervous part of basketball, because you're all by yourself and if you miss everybody's like, whoa!" a smiling Jackson said.
Later in the half, with the new 30-second shot clock winding down, Jackson connected for his second field goal, a 3-pointer from the right wing. Jackson, who played a team-high 24 minutes at point guard, finished with nine points, four rebounds, four assistant a steal and two turnovers.
"Turtle had some good moments, he had a lot of good moments, and he did some things we have to correct," Fox said. "He experienced some things he needed to experience, which will allow him to get better. It's a hard position to learn and there's a lot of things he's going to experience throughout the year for the first time, and tonight was the first dose of that."
Odds And Ends
The one Bulldog in uniform that didn't play was junior guard J.J. Frazier. Fox said Frazier took a blow to the face during practice Thursday: "It's not a broken nose, but something in that vicinity." Fox said he expected Frazier to be ready for the opener and he will likely need to wear a mask for a while. ... The Bulldogs open their season next Friday at Stegeman against Chattanooga (7 p.m.). The Mocs have a new coach this season in Matt McCall, who may be familiar to Dogs fans. He spent the previous four seasons as an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
